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Journalism of Courage
A Pakistan team will arrive on July 23 to inspect the Baglihar project to prepare its case before the World Bank expert. The team will be shown a model of the project and informed about the design details.
This, officials said, is part of the arrangement agreed with the neutral expert, Raymond Lafitte, who will hear both sides and settle the dispute.
No talks will be held even though the Pakistani team is headed by the Commissioner of Indus waters.
The 450-mw Baglihar hydroelectric project is meant to provide electricity to Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan, claiming that its construction and design violates the Indus Waters Treaty and is a security concern, had urged the World Bank to appoint a neutral expert to settle the issue. The appointment of an expert is provided for in the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan are discussing dates for the trial run of the Amritsar-Lahore bus.
The two sides will hold the next round of talks on nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs) on August 5-6 and conventional military CBMs on August 8. The commerce secretary-level talks, part of the joint study group, will be on August 10. The home secretary-level meeting on terrorism is on August 29-30. On nuclear CBMs, the two will review the progress in the two earlier rounds.
Both sides have expressed their desire to keep working towards elaboration and implementation of the nuclear CBMs. The meeting is expected to finalise the agreement on pre-notification of ballistic missile tests.
Upgradation of the existing hotlines between the DGMOs and establishment of a dedicated and secure hotline between the foreign secretaries of the two countries will also figure in the meeting.
There has, however, been no progress on conventional CBMs, with India not inclined to accept the Pakistani definition of a strategic restraint regime. Islamabad had suggested around 20 CBMs under this last December.
